ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State scored a pair of goals in both the second and third periods to earn a 4-1 win over the Omaha hockey team in the weekend series opener on Friday.
The loss dropped the Mavericks below .500 for the first time this season (6-7-2) while they fell to 1-5-1-0/0 in the NCHC, keeping them in eighth place. The Huskies have now won three straight, improving to 5-6-4 overall and 3-4-0-0/0 in the conference, keeping them tied with Denver for fourth.
The Mavericks were outshot 11-6 in the first, but the game remained scoreless in large part because of
Isaiah Saville. UNO's freshman netminder stopped Jack Ahcan on an odd-man rush, squelched a rebound chance and then got help from
Ryan Jones who batted away the loose puck.
St. Cloud State broke the deadlock early in the second when Jack Ahcan scored a power play goal at the 57 second mark.
Saville turned in an eye-popping save later in the period when he batted away a sure goal from Nolan Walker, reaching back to redirect a shot at a gaping net with the paddle of his stick.
But the Huskies doubled their lead at 17:26 when Micah Miller broke in alone and slipped a shot between Saville's pads to make it 2-0 after two.
In the third, Nick Poehling and Easton Brodzinski scored goals to make it 4-0.
The Mavericks got on the board with 20 seconds remaining when
Martin Sundberg steered home a pass from
Taylor Ward for his second goal of the season.
Saville finished with 24 saves while SCSU's David Hrenak made 25 as the Huskies outshot the Mavericks, 28-26.
The two teams finish the two-game series on Saturday at 6:07 p.m.
GAME NOTES:
The Mavericks are now winless in their last five games (0-4-1), a season high.
St. Cloud State has won the last 10 meetings with the Mavericks.
Three stars: 1. Jack Ahcan/SCSU (1-1-2); 2. Nick Poehling/SCSU (1-1-2); 3. David Hrenak/SCSU (25 saves)
